Registration system for paper lining machine



5 Sheets-Shoot l D. D. ACTON ET AL REGISTRATION SYSTEM FOR PAPER LINING MACHINE Ti 5. H IN I l W O k 4 g U can Q Dec. 15, 1970 Filed Oct. 23,

ZZ WI ec. H5, 1979 D. D. ACTON ETAI- 354E768 REGISTRATION SYSTEM FOR PAPER LINING MACHINE Filed 001;. 25, 1967 s Sheets-Sheet 2 I INVENTORS BY CHA/QLES S. OCHS Oy as E MUM/$040 DAN/EL D- AcTO Y Dec. 15, 1970 ACTON ET AL 3,546,768

REGISTRATION SYSTEM FOR PAPER LINING MACHINE 5 SheetsSheet 5 Filed 001:. 23, 1967 CHI-719L155 OCHS en. 15, 1970 ACTON ETAL 3,546,768

REGISTRATION SYSTEM FOR PAPER LINING MACHINE Filed Oct. 23, 1967 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 United States Patent 3,546,768 REGISTRATION SYSTEM FOR PAPER LINING MACHINE Daniel D. Acton, Charles S. Ochs, and Orris E. Mumford,

Lancaster, Ohio, assignors to Anchor Hocking Corporation, Lancaster, Ohio, a corporation of Delaware Filed Oct. 23, 1967, Ser. No. 677,417 Int. Cl. B23q 17/00 U.S. Cl. 29-407 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A method and machine for inserting printed liners in proper registration in articles such as closure caps wherein the liner feeding mechanism is indexed by means of a photo sensitive system in response to indicia marked on the liner material. The feed mechanism includes an intermittently-operated drive roller and a pinch roller which is raised and lowered by hydraulic means in response to the sensing means. Spaced indicia are provided near the edge of the liner material to be detected by the photo sensing means which provides a signal which causes the pinch roller to be raised to stop the advance of the liner material at the exact point where the printed liner and cap interior are in register. A switch actuated by the continually operating main drive system provides a signal which returns the pinch roller to the drive position for the next feed cycle.

CROSS REFERENCES The present invention is an improvement upon closure lining machines of the type disclosed in co-pending application Ser. No. 580,712 filed Sept. 20, 1966 and owned by the assignee of the present invention.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to machines for inserting liners in closure caps and more particularly to a method and means for cutting out and inserting liners from a sheet having printed matter thereon which must be properly registered with the interior of the closure cap.

Machines for inserting liners of paperboard, wax paper and other suitable materials in closure caps are in common use in the packaging industry. Generally, these liners are punched from a sheet of the liner material as the material is passed over the inverted closure caps. The caps are fed along a conveyor to an indexed station beneath the liner material and a stamping device above the material sequentially cuts out and inserts a liner from the sheet of material into the interior of the cap. To accomplish neat and precise cutting of the liners from the sheet material the feeding of the sheet material is generally stepped or intermittent in accordance with the indexing of the passing closures. A common method of indexing the passage of the closures is the use of a rotating star wheel. The star wheel receives one or more closures at a time in a pocket from the conveyor and is indexed to pass the closures to a series of stations where one or more liners may 'be inserted therein.

If there are no markings or printed matter on the liners there is no need to properly index any particular portion of the liner material in registration with the interior of the closures. The mechanism for feeding the sheet of liner material therefore need not be precisely controlled as the amount of material advanced during each intermittent operation may vary somewhat as long as the punched out portions do not overlap. However, when it is desired to have printed matter or other markings on the closure liners it becomes necessary for the stamping apparatus to cut out the particular areas on the 3,545,768 Patented Dec. 15, 1970 tween the printed liner areas and the interiors of the closure caps.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The method and means of the present invention adapts the presently used feeder mechanism which comprises a large drive roller and a smaller cooperating pinch roller to precisely index the feeding of the liner material to the punch-out station. An improved sensing system is provided which detects suitably spaced indicating marks on the sheet material and causes the pinch roller to be raised ceasing the advance of the material precisely at the point where the printed area of the material is in register with the interior of the closure to be lined.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved indexing system for closure cap lining machines permitting much higher liner machine speeds.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved system for precisely registering printed liners in the lined caps where each liner cut is independently controlled thereby preventing error accumulation and eliminating error compensation means.

It is another object of the present invention to provide such an improved system which may be readily adaptable for use 'with existing machinery of this type.

Other and further objects of the invention will be obvious upon an understanding of the illustrative embodiment about to be described, or will be indicated in-the appended claims, and various advantages not referred to herein will occur to one skilled in the art upon employment of the invention in practice.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING A preferred embodiment of the invention has been chosen for purposes of illustration and description and is shown in the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the specification wherein:

FIG. 1 is a top view of the liner insertion machine;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the machine;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the liner sheet being fed to the cutting and inserting station and illustrating the indexing system of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view in elevation of the liner sheet feeder;

FIG. 5 is a top view of the liner sheet feeder;

FIG. 6 is a side view showing the liner sheet being fed past the indexing sensor system to the cutting and inserting station and showing the liner cutting and inserting mechanism in greater detail;

FIG. 7 shows a preferred embodiment of a liner sheet having indexing marks thereon in accordance With the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a closure cap showing a liner after cutting and prior to insertion;

FIG. 9 is a sectional view of a closure cap prior to the insertion of the liner;

FIG. 10 is a sectional view of a closure cap with the liner in place on the inside of the cover; and

FIG. 11 is a schematic of the circuit which may be used to control the system of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION FIG. 1 is a top view of a preferred embodiment of the liner insertion machine incorporating the present invention wherein liners 20 and 21 are inserted in metal or plastic closures 22 such as those of the type illustrated in FIGS. 9 and 10. The closures may be of any of various conventional designs having a top panel 23 and a depending skirt 24. The liner 20 may be made of paperboard or other suitable materials commonly used for such purposes.

The machine comprises a star wheel 25 for indexing the motion of the closures during the lining operation; liner sheet feed mechanisms 36 and 38 which provide a supply of liner material 40; cutting and tamping mechanisms mounted at the stamping stations Band D for punching the liners from the sheet of material; and a suitable drive system for operating these various devices. The entire apparatus may be mounted on a frame 47 comprising a table 48 with sides 49,50, 51 and 52 and (FIG. 2) a base seating on beams 53, 54 and 55 extending parallel to the main auxiliary drives and beams 56 extending therebetween.

As shown in FIG. 1, the closures 22 are fed on a conveyor to a star wheel 25 and rest on a support plate 25a. The star wheel 25 is rotated clockwise as indicated by the arrow and has six slots or pockets 27. The star wheel 25 is indexed through six positions indicated at A through F by a suitable drive located beneath it. The closures 22 are received from the conveyor 30 at station A and are indexed by the star wheel 25 to the feed station B to receive the liner 20'.

The particular operations performed at stations C and D need not be described for the purposes of our invention but if an additional thin sealing liner 21 of wax paper or plastic or the like is to be used it may be inserted at station D as shown in skeleton form in FIG. 1. At station E the lined closures 22 are ejected on to conveyor 69. The station F is an intermediate position where no operation is performed.

The apparatus has two separate drive systems comprising the feed conveyor drive mechanism 28 at the lower right hand of the figure and the main drive mechanism 29 at the upper left. The closure feed drive 28 operates conveyor 30 for delivering the closures to station A of the star wheel. The main drive mechanism 29 has a main drive 31 extending to the opposite side of the table 48 and connected to the motor 32 by the belts 33 through pulleys 34 and 35. The main drive 31 is connected to the first liner feed assembly 36 which supplies liner material to station B through the liner feed intermittent drive 37. In the event that a second liner feed assembly 38 is used for supplying station D, it is connected to and driven by the intermittent liner feed drive 37a on the opposite side of the machine from drive 37. The liner feed assembly 36 supplies the thicker liner material in sheet form to station B and the liner feed assembly 38 supplies the thinner liner material to station D. These assemblies may be essentially identical in form and both may incorporate the present invention. The liners at stations B and D are cut from the liner material 40 and tamped into closures 22 by suitable stamping mechanisms such as 76 shown in general detail in FIG. 2.

The closures 22 are removed from the slots 27 at station E by the ejection finger 42 operated by the ejection mechanism 43. The stamping mechanisms 76 are reciprocally actuated by the drive 44 at the lower center of the FIGS. 1 and 2. The ejection mechanism 43 is driven by the auxiliary drive takeoif 45 at the top of FIG. 1 which is connected to the pounder drive 44.

The size of the slots 27 of the star wheel 25 and the number of heads on the stamping mechanisms 76 may be varied in construction to place liners in from one to five closures at a time, depending upon the size of the closures. In the embodiment shown, two closures at a time are operated on by the machine. A guide rail 60 is provided about one side of the wheel 25 to maintain the closures 22 in the slots 27 during the lining operation.

When it is desired to include printed matter on the closure liners, it is necessary to arrange the printed pattern in such a manner that the pattern will be in register with the interior of the closures during the punching operation. This requires in the present case, as shown in FIG. 7, arranging the successive sets of markings 41 at an angle to the opposite edges of the liner material 40. A further requirement is that the markings must be presented in register with the closure interiors at the stamping station.

The present invention is directed to a control system for the liner feed mechanism which will insure proper continuous registration between these printed patterns and the interiors of the caps into which they are to be inserted. The improved liner feed assembly to be used in the present invention is shown in and will be described with reference to FIGS. 2, 4 and 5.

THE IMPROVED ROLL FEED ASSEMBLIES As seen in FIG. 2 the main drive 31 comprises a shaft 220 having gears 222 and 223 on its end and a wheel 224 for manual operation of the machine. The gear 223 meshes with gear 88 of the auxiliary drive 44- Which is connected to and operates the stamping mechanisms 76. Gear 222 operates the liner feed assemblies 36 and 38.

The first liner feed assembly 36 has a shaft 225 intermittently rotated by the liner feed intermittent drive 37. The drive 37 comprises a shaft 260 and crank plate 226 coupled to the gear 263 and continuously rotated in one direction. The shaft 260 is rotatably mounted in extension 261 of the front Wall 49 and a corresponding extension in the rear wall 51. The gear 263 of shaft 260 engages gear 222 on the main drive 31 to continuously rotate shaft 260. Thus, the plate 226 is continuously rotated when the machine is operating.

Plate 226 has arcuate slots 227 and a diametric slot 228 for adjusting the plate 226 and the amplitude of operation imparted to the arm 229 on the shaft 225. The arm 229 is connected to the plate 226 by means of the adjustable coupling 230. As seen in FIGS. 4 and 5 the shaft 225 is rotatably mounted in brackets 231, 232 mounted on the side 50 of table 48. At the opposite end from the arm 229 gear 233 is fixedly keyed to the shaft 225 and meshes with the gear 234 mounted on shaft 235. A large diameter roller 238 is fixedly keyed to the shaft 225 and a smaller diameter r-oller 239 is fixedly keyed to the shaft 235. Thus, the two rollers 238 and 239 are constrained to rotate together through the gears 233 and 234. These gears will remain in engagement during the lifting of the smallerroller 239, as will be later described, by constructing the size of the meshing teeth to be greater than the size of the stroke of the smaller roller 239.

The arm 229 is driven in reciprocal motion up and down by drive 37. This arm is connected to a ratchet means 245 mounted on the end of shaft 225. The action of arm 229 then causes intermittent rotation of the shaft 225 and accordingly the large diameter roller 238. By this motion a continuous sheet of material 40 held between the large and small rollers 238 and 239, respectively is drawn from a supply 240 (shown in FIG. 2) and intermittently fed to the punching station B for insertion in the closure caps. A brake means 225a is provided to limit the rotation of the drive rollers to the arc of actuation.

In the present embodiment the arc of actuation of the large roller is set to be large enough so as to normally cause each set of printed liners on the sheet material to pass somewhat beyond the point of registration with the closure cap to be lined. This will insure that the printed areas on the liner sheet 'will not fall short of registration with the caps. The improved control system acts to prevent the areas from being advanced beyond the point of registration as will be explained hereinafter.

In the improved roll feed assembly two hydraulic cylinders are mounted on the top of the mechanism as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 with their piston rods 101 attached to opposite ends of the shaft 235. Extension and contraction of the rods 101 will thus move the small pinch roller 239 mounted on the shaft 235, respectively into and out of engagement with the linear material 40. When the pinch roller 239 is in contact with the liner material 40,

the material will be advanced by rotation of the large drive roller 238. However, when the small pinch roller 239 is raised from contact with the material 40 further rotation of the drive roller 238 will fail to advance the material at the stamping station.

Actuation of the two hydraulic cylinders 100 is controlled by a four-way solenoid operated valve 103. The valve 103 in one position will extend and hold the piston rods 101 in the extended position while movement to the other position will cause retraction and holding of the rods 101 in the retracted position. Actuation of the valve 103 then will alternately drop the pinch roller 239, which is attached to the piston rods 101, into engagement with the liner material 40 or lift it out of contact with the material to cease the driving operation.

It will be seen that by means of the system including valve 103, precise control of the liner feed may be achieved so that the printed areas may be fed into exact registration with the closure caps each time the material is advanced by the drive roller 238.

REGISTRATION 'IMARKINGS In order to determine exactly when the printed patterns 41 on the liner material 40 are in register with the inte rior of the closure caps 22 to be lined, an improved marking system is provided on the material. These marks 46 as shown in FIG. 7 are placed on or adjacent to the edge of the material 40 and are suitably spaced so as to indicate the exact distance which the liner material 40 must be advanced to present the next successive printed pattern 41 exactly above the interior of the closure cap 22. Thus, by sensing these marks 46 on the material during each intermittent advance the material 40 can be made to move only the distance included between the successive indicating marks 46 and the printed patterns 41 will be stamped out in exact register with the interior of the closure caps 22.

The present invention includes an improved system for sensing the distance between these marks 46 and controlling the operation of the pinch roller 239 to insure the advancement of only the exact amount of material 40 to cause proper registration.

IMPROVED SENSING SYSTEM The improved sensing system provided in the preferred embodiment includes a photo sensitive system which is actuated by the markings on the edges of the liner material. Referring to FIG. 3, a source of light 120 casts a beam 121 which strikes the liner material 40 near its edge and is reflected toward a photocell 122 arranged at an appropriate angle to detect the reflected beam 123. The beam 121 strikes the passing markings 46 on the material 40 and an indicative signal is produced by the photocell 122 each time a mark 46 is intercepted by the light. As previously stated these marks 46 are spaced along the edges of the liner material 40 at points which will cause the printed matter 41 to be placed in register with the closure cap 22 during each advance of the material 40. When the liner material 40 is advanced the photo sensing means 122 is triggered by the next successive mark 46 on the edge of the material 40 indicating that the printed matter 41 is in registration with a closure cap 22. This signal will cause the hydraulic cylinder control valve 103 to be actuated to raise the pinch roller 239 from the material 40, ceasing the advance of the material at the exact point when the printed matter 41 and the closure caps 22 are in register.

An improved circuit for achieving this operation is shown in FIG. 11 and the operation of the entire system will now be described with reference to it.

Referring to FIGS. 3, 6, and 11 the overall operation of the system is as follows. As seen in the circuit diagram, two switches 110 and 111 are provided for controlling the operation and setting of the liner feed machine. When the first switch 110 is in the manual position the second switch 111 may be used to raise and lower the pinch roller 239 by alternately energizing the lift and drop legs of the circuit. These legs contain solenoids 112 and 113, respectively, which shift the valve 103 which controls the actuation of the hydraulic cylinders 100. When it is desired to operate the pinch roller 239 by means of the automatic photo sensing system, the first switch is thrown to the auto position and the second switch 111 is put in the lift position. The ratchet-operated shaft 225 will intermittently rotate the large drive roller 238 to feed the liner material 40 to the stamping station 76. The material 40 will only be fed to the station when the pinch roller 239 cooperates with the drive roller 238, that is, when in its dropped position. As seen in FIG. 7 the liner material 40 is provided with printed markings 41 which must register with the interior of the closure caps 22 at the time of the stamping operation. In order to accomplish this registration, spaced indicator marks 46 are provided on the edge of the material 40. These marks 46 are sensed by the photo sensitive system comprising the lamp 120 and the photocell 122. When an indicator mark 46 is detected by the photocell 122, the signal will cause the relay contacts 114 in the lift leg of the circuit to be closed. The closing of these contacts 114 actuates the hydraulic cylinders control valve 103 to cause retraction of the cylinder rods 101 and accordingly the lifting of the pinch roller 239 from the liner material 40.

The operating arc of the drive roller 238 is set so that during each advance of the liner material 40 the succeeding printed markings 41 will pass somewhat beyond the point of registration with the interior of the closure caps 22 at the stamping station B. However, the sensing of the indicator marks 46 on the edge of the liner material 40 will cause the pinch roller 239 to be lifted from the material 40 at the moment that the liners 41 are in registration. The advancement of the liner 40 then will stop exactly at the point of registration with the closures 22 although the action of the drive roller 238 will continue for a short period. The stamping mechanism 76 will then cut and insert the registered liners 41 into the closure caps interiors and be withdrawn.

The continually operating main drive system 31 will cyclically close a timing contact 115 in the drop leg of the circuit actuating the solenoid 113 to move the valve 103 to the drop position. Thus after each stamping the valve 103 will be actuated to extend the cylinder rods 101 dropping the pinch roller 239 again into the drive position. The liner material 40 will again be advanced until the next indicator mark 46 on the material is detected by the photocell system.

It is seen from the foregoing description that an improved method and means for forming and inserting a plurality of printed liners in closures for containers has been developed. The closures may be of various types, such as threaded, lug, etc., and may be made of glass, plastic, metal or any other suitable container material. The machine in its operation provides a rapid and positive presentation of the liner material to a liner receiving station, and a positive cutting, seating and registering of the liners in the closures so that each closure has the liner properly formed and positioned. Thus the closures are rapidly and accurately provided with a plurality of printed liners, in proper registration, which reduces the cost of manufacture and increases the rate of production of closures with this type liner. 4

As various changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangement of the parts herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and without sacrificing any of its advantages, it is to be understood that all matter herein is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described our invention, we claim:

1. In a machine for inserting printed liners in proper registration in closure caps having rotary means for feeding a closure cap to a station, means for feeding printed liner material to a station and punch means for cutting a liner from the material and inserting the liner in the closure wherein the feeding means includes an intermittently operated drive roller and a pinch roller for pinching and advancing the liner material, the improvement which comprises means for moving said pinch roller into pinching relation responsive to movement of the pinch means to advance said liner material, and sensing means responsive to the passage of indicia on said liner material for moving said pinch roller out of pinching relation to abruptly terminate the liner material advance.

2. A machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein the sensing means is a light sensitive means.

3. A machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein the means for moving the pinch roller includes a hydraulic cylinder.

4. A machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein said intermittently operated drive roller is set to feed the liner material beyond the point of registration with the associated closure during each advance.

References Cited JOHN F. CAMPBELL, Primary Examiner V. A. DIPALMA, Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 

